Whicker: A circle of life surrounds Tyler Hilinski’s death

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Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski, shown on the field during warmups before a game against Oregon State in Pullman, Wash. in September. Hilinski was found dead in an off-campus apartment on Tuesday in an apparent suicide. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski (3) hugs teammate wide receiver CJ Dimry after an an NCAA college football game against Boise State in Pullman, Wash., Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski (3) looks for a receiver during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Arizona in Pullman, Wash., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

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Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski (3) walks on the field after an NCAA college football game against Nevada in Pullman, Wash., Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

People stop at a makeshift memorial for Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski outside Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Police are interviewing Hilinski’s friends and people who knew him to try to learn why he apparently took his life. The 21-year-old Hilinski was found in his Pullman apartment on Tuesday after he didn’t show up for practice, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police also found a rifle and a suicide note. (Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)

Items are left at a makeshift memorial for Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski outside Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash., Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Police are interviewing Hilinski’s friends and people who knew him to try to learn why he apparently took his life. The 21-year-old Hilinski was found in his Pullman apartment on Tuesday after he didn’t show up for practice, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police also found a rifle and a suicide note. (Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News via AP)

Tyler Hilinski would come out of the locker room and start hugging people. He would always find Frank Begg.

Frank’s son Nick is a defensive end for Washington State. Hilinski was the quarterback.

Football teams are concentric circles. Coaches, players, husbands, wives, moms, dads. In Hilinski’s case, there were brothers. Kelly played at Columbia and Utah State, Ryan is the quarterback at Orange Lutheran.

Mark and Kym Hilinski took turns going to Washington State games. They and the other parents had a Twitter group called #CougarFam.

Of all the young men in the world of sports, few had more accessible people than Hilinski.

“A lot of it is Pullman,” said Eric Sweet, whose son Kyle plays for the Pac-12 school in the southeast corner of Washington, nestled between wheat fields, in a town so small the teams don’t stay in Pullman but usually in Moscow, Idaho.

“You go there and you go to church and there’s hundreds of people wearing Cougar gear and the priest is talking about the game. People know you, welcome you. It’s a tough place to get to. But it’s a special place.”

Sweet is flying to Pullman this weekend to look after Kyle. Players called their families throughout Tuesday night, when they learned Hilinski, 21, had taken his own life that afternoon.

Voices were faint and cracking. River Cracraft played with Begg and Sweet at Santa Margaita . He was a prolific receiver for the Cougars, and when he answered the phone Wednesday he still was anguished and processing. “I was just there last week and I saw him,” Cracraft said. “He was fine.”

Begg and Hilinski were together Tuesday morning. They were roommates, although Hilinski still hadn’t completely moved out of the old apartment. They noted they had a team meeting to attend at 4 p.m.

When Hilinski didn’t show, it didn’t seem right. “He was always very prompt,” Frank Begg said. Nick left and went to Hilinski’s old apartment, saw his car there. Soon police came to find Hilinski in the closet, with a gun and a note.

Almost immediately there were two memorial services on campus, and the coaches and athletic department officials brought in counselors for the players. Those counselors would offer everything but answers.

Hilinski was set to become the No. 1 quarterback in an offense that puts its passers into record books.

On Sept. 10, Hilinski relieved Luke Falk in a home game against Boise State. Falk went back in, but then hurt his head during a sack. Boise State led by 21 in the fourth quarter, but Hilinski threw for a touchdown, watched the defense score another, and then threw two more. The Cougars won 47-44 in triple overtime.

“He reminded me of Brett Favre,” Eric Sweet said, “the way he could get the ball into those tight windows.”

Dig up an old Fox Sports video, with Hilinski at Upland High working out with his receivers and Fox analyst John Jackson. You see a teenager who rattles off coverages and counters to those coverages, who has an easy smile and the command of the position. His mates called him “Clink.”

“We can talk about it all we want,” Eric Sweet said. ‘We were doing that at the dinner table. Was it a girl? Was it something else? He was so upbeat and positive.”

Center Jay Guillermo was, too. But in 2015 he left Clemson before spring practice, went home to Maryville, Tenn. He quit working out. After chopping trees and mowing yards, he returned in the summer and centered the Tigers in a national championship game.

“It was awesome,” said Eric MacLain, a Clemson guard, “that he was able to man up and ask for help.”

Sure, because a player’s self-esteem is never questioned. How much harder, for a quarterback?

According to Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), suicide is the second-highest cause of death worldwide for those between 15 and 24, and only half of Americans who experience a major episode of depression get treatment.

Jerry West, Brandon Marshall, Terry Bradshaw, Chamique Holdsclaw, Zack Greinke, Ricky Williams … the list of prominent athletes who have dealt with mental health issues is lengthening. The list of those who shelve those problems in order to keep playing the part is longer still.

One day we’ll form a society that actually deals with mental illness as it deals with cancer and heart disease. Until then, let’s stop asking rhetorical questions, like “why,” and start treating our athletes like people, the ones Tyler Hilinski used to hug.